Catheterization and interventional procedures, such as angioplasty and stenting, generally are performed by inserting a hollow needle through a patient's skin and muscle tissue into the vascular system. A guide wire then is passed through the needle lumen into the patient's blood vessel. The needle is removed and an introducer sheath is advanced over the guide wire into the vessel. A catheter typically is passed through the lumen of the introducer sheath and advanced over the guide wire into position for a medical procedure. The introducer sheath therefore facilitates insertion of various devices into the vessel while minimizing trauma to the vessel wall and minimizing blood loss during a procedure.
Upon completion of the medical procedure, the catheter and introducer sheath are removed, leaving a puncture site in the vessel. Commonly, external pressure is applied until clotting and wound sealing occurs. However, this procedure is time consuming and expensive, requiring as much as an hour of a physician's or nurses's time, is uncomfortable for the patient, and requires that the patient be immobilized in the operating room, cathlab, or holding area. Furthermore, a risk of hematoma exists from bleeding prior to hemostasis.
Various apparatus have been developed for percutaneously sealing a vascular puncture by occluding or suturing the puncture site. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,192,302 and 5,222,974 to Kensey et al. describe the use of a biodegradable plug delivered through the introducer sheath into the puncture site. When deployed, the plug seals the vessel and provides hemostasis. Such devices have been slow to gain acceptance in the medical community, however, due to difficulties encountered in positioning the plug within the vessel.
Another previously known technique comprises percutaneously suturing the puncture site with specialized apparatus. Such apparatus is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,184 to Hathaway et al. While percutaneous suturing devices may be effective, a significant degree of skill may be required on the part of the practitioner. Because such devices are mechanically complex, they tend to be relatively expensive to manufacture.
Surgical staples and resilient clips for external skin wound closure are well known in the art, Examples include U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,390 to Brown and U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,405 to Yacoubian et al, which both describe resiliently deformable closure devices suitable for manual external application.
To reduce the cost and complexity of percutaneous puncture closure devices, such devices employing resilient or deformable clips have been developed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,354 to Tovey et al. describes the use of resilient clips in conjunction with a trocar to close abdominal puncture wounds. U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,846 to Virnich et al. describes a specialized apparatus for closing a vascular puncture site with a plastically deformable clip. The apparatus preferably is advanced over a guide wire through a cannula to the surface of the puncture site, where the staple-like clips are delivered to close the wound.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,782,861 to Cragg et al. describes specialized apparatus for closing a puncture site with a detachable clip. The apparatus comprises a hollow shaft having a distal end formed with one or more opposed pairs of resilient grasping prongs and that is advanced over a guide wire through a coaxial hollow tube to a position at the distal end of the tube just proximal of the puncture. The grasping prongs are extended beyond the distal end of the tube to grasp the vessel on opposing sides of the puncture. The shaft then is partially retracted, causing the prongs to contract within the tube, thereby sealing the puncture site.
The percutaneous puncture closure devices described in the foregoing patents have the drawback that a separate device must be deployed through the introducer sheath to close the puncture site, thus prolonging the procedure. Moreover, these devices generally require relatively complex apparatus and involve time consuming manipulation to achieve hemostasis.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide apparatus and methods suitable for vascular puncture closure that overcome the disadvantages of previously known devices.
It also would be desirable to provide apparatus and methods that quickly and effectively achieve hemostasis.
It further would be desirable to provide vascular puncture closure apparatus and methods that do not require the introduction of additional apparatus at the completion of the catheterization procedure to achieve closure.
It still further would be desirable to provide apparatus and methods wherein all foreign materials left in a patient's body are bioabsorbable.
It would be desirable to provide vascular puncture closure apparatus and methods that are safe, lower cost, and easy to use.